Notes -- July 10, 2012 Council Meeting

Note: These are my personal notes from the council meeting. They are NOT the official minutes, nor should they be construed as an official record of any kind.

Boone County Council
7/10/2012
Present:  All Council Members present except Debbie Shubert.

The council approved the minutes of the June meeting (for which I was not present).

Council president Steve Jacob opened a Public Hearing to consider a proposed increase to the Cumulative Capital Development (CCD) Fund levy rate.  Brittany Wingerter of Umbaugh gave an overview of what the fund rate change would mean in terms of revenue collections for the county, as well as the impact on taxpayers at various home values and in various relationships to the 1-2-3 tax caps.  Several council members asked  questions about the possible impact of the change.  Jacob then opened the floor to comments from the public, limited to five minutes:

• Aaron Smith of Lebanon asked the council to table the increase and then spoke primarily to encourage the council to adopt a resolution supporting changes to the state’s gas tax fund use for non-transportation funding before returning to his request to postpone the CCD increase at least until after the legislature has acted on the transportation funding plan. 
• Anthony Theophanus of rural Lebanon asked for clarification about the impact on residents in non-incorporated areas of the county.    
• Sheriff Ken Campbell spoke in support of raising the rate, arguing that the cuts his department has made in recent years have left him with no alternative but to cut employees and therefore services if further budget cuts are required. 

After president Jacob read the proposed ordinance aloud into the record, several council members spoke against the increase – Brent Wheat, Marcia Wilhoite, Steve Jacob, myself.  Jacob called for a motion to approve the resolution increasing the rate, but no one made such a motion and so the proposal failed. 
 
RE-APPROPRIATIONS:
Highway (Rick Carney): Approved.
Transferred $200 from telephone to meeting
Transferred $300,000 from bridge #70 to three other bridges. 
Transferred roughly $341,000 from four completed bridges and bridge #70 to CR 400 S bridge construction.

Re-Assessment (Lisa Garoffolo): Approved.

Transferred $600 from supplies to printing to print door hangers for the upcoming beginning of “rolling” re-assessment.

Prosecutor (Todd Meyer):

Withdrawn.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:

Sheriff (Ken Campbell):   Approved.
Requested just over $1000 in transfers of money collected from inmates for items such as postage, medical supplies and commissary.
Requested transfer of roughly $350 to Part-Time for money collected for clerical work on sheriff’s sales.

Assessor (Lisa Garoffolo): Approved.

Requested $116,000+ from the re-assessment fund to cover the early start of the “rolling” reassessment contract as approved by the legislature in its session earlier this year.  Some questions were raised as to whether this would cover the entire contract’s cost for the remainder of the year, and what would happen with the previous year’s designated re-assessment funds which are no longer relevant with the new rolling format. Garoffolo will meet with the Auditor and Treasurer to clarify and report back. 

Commissioners (Jeff Wolfe):

Requested $2500 for publications.  Several times in the past year the county has submitted (and paid for) legally required advertisements to be published in the Zionsville Times-Sentinel which the paper then failed to publish.  As a result the county now publishes in the Indianapolis Star*, which is much more expensive.  The county was also required to publish its new flood plan which alone cost more than $1000.  Approved.

*State law requires the publication of many county actions in two “local” print periodicals.  Several council members and commissioners have raised this issue with state legislators requesting that electronic publication of such notices be permitted as at least one of the two publications, which would not only put government in line with the modern digital era but also save taxpayers thousands of dollars each year.   The council also asked Wolfe to investigate having the county’s IT department being such publications regardless of the law for taxpayers’ convenience.  Wolfe agreed to do so, though such requests of the IT department have been made several times in the past several years to no avail.

NEW BUSINESS:

None.

OLD BUSINESS:

The council discussed the proposed “negative additional” to remove funding from Bridge #220, the Ford Road bridge over Eagle Creek.  Some progress has apparently been made toward widening the current proposed truss bridge, and altering the design of the curve onto 96^th street has been accomplished to the satisfaction of both the commissioners and Zionsville. Mr. Thompson moved to de-fund the project in its current form (using the steel truss bridge).  Councilwoman Wilhoite asked Tim Haak of the Zionsville Town Council to speak.  He commended Commissioner Applegate for his willingness to continue discussions and to seek solutions.  Commissioner Jeff Wolfe, as the only commissioner present, was asked to speak as well.  As he has not been involved in the discussions, Wolfe stated he had little to add to the discussion.  President Jacob also asked County Attorney Bob Clutter to speak on the state of the truss bridge’s availability.  INDOT has agreed to hold the bridge through August 1^st, with the possibility of a 30-day extension if the county requests one in writing. 

Thompson moved to remove funding from the bridge, and I seconded.  After some further discussion, council voted 4-2 to approve the motion and de-fund the project (Thompson, Rodgers, Wilhoite and Jacob for; Wheat and Smith against).

Jacob led discussion of hearings of the 2013 budget.  The Council will plan to hold workshops led by the budget committee (Thompson, Wilhoite, Rodgers) following its regular council meeting on Tuesday, August 14^th, and continue them on Wednesday the 15^th.  The public budget hearings will begin Monday, August 20^th, at noon. 

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Sam Sutphin of Zionsville spoke again supporting the bridge project the council had just de-funded. Mr. Sutphin also addressed the “alternative” truss bridge which had been discussed.  Cindy Lamberjack of Pike Township (96^th Street) spoke again criticizing the council’s decision to de-fund the bridge project.  Robert Guernsey, former County Commissioner from Harrison Township, stated that he left the Commissioners in 1996 and that the Bridge #220 project was a controversial topic on the county’s priority list at that time.    

Mr. Guernsey also spoke regarding the shifting nature of property taxes, noting that in recent years property tax caps and assessed valuations have tended to transfer more and more of the property tax burden from residents – who use services – to business and agriculture – which do not, at least at the rate residents do.  Guernsey expressed concern that these changes, along with the state’s investigation of “productivity” taxes, will create an unfriendly climate to business and an unfair burden on agriculture. He encouraged the council to look in the future to funding from income taxes as a more equitable way to distribute the taxation burden. 

Peter Kunz, Pike Township (Moore Road), again spoke in support of the steel truss bridge the council had just de-funded.  Randy Price of Northern Boone County also spoke critically of the handling of the bridge.

Meeting adjourned at roughly10:30.

Next regularly-scheduled council meeting will be Tuesday, August 14, at 8:30 a.m., with a special meeting to approve an additional appropriation request from the commissioners on Friday the 20^th at 11:00 a.m.